JOB TITLE: Director – Global Programs
Location: Washington, DC, with occasional travel to other RI field offices
Reports To: SVP, International Programs
About RI:Relief International (RI) is a leading global humanitarian organization and home to teams of humanitarian activist-professionals committed to transforming adversity into renewal for the world’s most vulnerable populations. By partnering with beneficiaries and communities on the front-lines, RI innovatively bridges the gap between immediate relief and long-term community development.
SUMMARY:The Director of Global Programs is a global team member within the RI Program Management department based in Washington, D.C. and is responsible for supporting the translation of RI Global strategy into regional and country offices, championing program quality, supporting the achievement of the performance indicators set for the PM department, providing a technical reporting line to regional and country-based program officers/managers, and providing strategic input to global or trans-regional initiatives including resource development. The DGP will also manage a range of special projects as assigned by the Senior Vice President, Program Management. A member of RI’s Leadership Team, the DGP works effectively with all heads of departments as well as Regional Directors and other staff to develop and implement new initiatives and systems improvements that will have measurable impact on RI’s ability to deliver high quality, innovative programming to vulnerable communities worldwide in line with RI’s global mission, social impact model and ‘the RI Way.” The DGP should have significant field and headquarters experience, including direct experience designing, implementing and evaluating projects across multiple countries or regions.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The DGP is expected to liaise effectively with Regional and Country Directors, Senior Management staff, field staff, partners, and donors.
Strategy Development and Integration
- Collaborate with departmental, regional and country staff to facilitate the translation of RI global strategy into integrated interdepartmental regional and country strategies. This includes articulating short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals;
- Provide strategic input to global and trans-regional initiatives;
- Support the development of annual workplans and performance measurement indicators for the Programs Department; and,
- Support and directly contribute to the development of white papers and thought leadership pieces relating to RI’s work.
Program Quality
- Conduct ongoing assessment of RI’s program quality. Utilize assessments and evaluation findings, in collaboration with regional and country directors, to improve consistency in program quality across all projects, countries and regions, in part by developing consensus on program quality standards;
- Develop and/or refine tools for implementing program quality audits as well as other monitoring practices. Review SOPs for all phases of project life cycle, updating as needed and increasing utility and utilization/compliance;
- Lead the field implementation and integration of tools for M&E developed by the Performance, Accountability, and Learning unit;
- Develop tools and processes for early detection of potential programmatic problems and support the development and activation of recommendations for course correction.
- Directly support at-risk projects and provide support to donor communications on compliance issues, as needed; and,
- Work closely with regional and country program officers/managers with the goal of increasing accountability of all programs staff to program quality standards.
Technical Support
- Facilitate and direct special global Program Management projects that may arise;
- Support the ongoing development of the Centers of Excellence, and provide internal liaison support between the COEs, and between the COEs and regional or country staff, as needed;
- Support capacity development for regional program officers, advising on project back-stopping, budget tracking and analysis, and donor reporting. Provide technical reporting line for program officers;
- Provide support in program department recruitment and liaison on human resources issues;
- As needed, fill temporary gaps in country or regional management duties;
- As needed take the lead on specific issues between RI and donors; and,
- Represent RI externally in various fora.
Resource Development
- As needed provide direct support in the development of key funding proposals, especially global and trans-regional initiatives;
- Represent PM in relationship building and liaison with new or potential donors;
- Participate in Pink and Red teams for proposal reviews; and,
- Other support as needed.
QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:
This position demands a dynamic individual with a good foundation of skills in management and development who is ready to provide substantive contributions and explore advancing their leadership capacity for achieving results in a demanding and fast paced environment.
- Master’s Degree in International Development or related field in alignment with the relief and development sectors.
- 10-15 years of relevant international positions, primarily with NGOs, with experience at both the field and headquarters levels.
- Experience with international humanitarian and / or development programming, including awareness of and experience with international standards and best practices, common protocols, and interagency networks and relations.
- Excellent skills in sound Project Cycle Management.
- Skills and experiences in program development; producing proposals, development and management of donor relations; experience must include direct experience in contributing substantively or as a leader on proposal writing, proposal budget design, and some history in managing donor outreach and relations. Preference given to candidates with success at winning USAID and private foundation/sector awards.
- Evidence of skills and experience in budgeting and financial forecasting, including experience in preparing budget designs, providing budget analysis, and expense management.
- Proven high level of computer literacy.
- Experience with independent and collaborative narrative writing.
- Familiarity with grants management fundamentals and USAID regulations and grants administration.
- Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation and Impact Measurement and Analysis a plus.
- Experience with mentoring and team building a plus.
- Demonstrated capacity to coordinate complex activities, meet deadlines and manage deliverables on varying timetables and priority levels, and to exercise sound judgment.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team and independently.
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